The things which go on in our head
by Rogue 559
Summary: An old enemy of Mutant X's returns... Duh, duh, duuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh!
1. Rest and Relaxation

'Hey Adam, you are not allowed to do that anymore!' declared Brennan.

'Not allowed to do what anymore?' answered Adam innocently.

'Give us twelve holographic new mutants to fight without warning!'

'Oh, that,' Adam replied with a grin.

Shalimar hopped up onto the bio bed in the middle of the lab next to Brennan.

'I thought it was kinda fun,' she said with a sparkle in her eyes.

Brennan looked at her, eyebrows raised. He knew she was teasing but still, she had managed to take down seven of them. She was definitely in control of her evolved mutant abilities. He just wished he could say the same thing about his.

Jesse and Emma walked into the room playing either/or.

'That's not fair,' whined Emma.

'Whats not fair about the question? It cannot possibly be that hard, just answer it.'

'Ok, I would have to go with Ben Affleck.'

The others looked at them with puzzled looks on all their faces.

As if to explain it all Emma looked at Shalimar and simply said 'Ben Affleck or Matt Damon.'

'Matt Damon,' Shalimar said with a grin. Shalimar seemed to get it even if no one else in the room understood.

Emma took a seat as Adam called up some images to the computer monitor. They showed CCTV footage from what looked like Genomex. They were dated a couple of days ago.

'You all know that things have been a little quiet on the new mutant front over the past couple of weeks, ever since Gabriel died.

'No kidding,' piped in Shalimar. 'I'm getting restless, I need some ass to kick that isn't completely virtual!'

'Well Eckhart got let out of stasis the other day as you can see from this camera footage.' The team could all see Eckhart looking drained, he was weak and didn't seem to be able to master the use of his legs, not surprising really since he had been stuck in a pod for months.

'Obviously he's still recovering but should be back hard at work making our lives hell within the space of a week,' continued Adam.

'Something to look forward to,' said Brennan. Smiling slightly Adam carried on:

'But for now I want you all to take a break. There are no new cases to deal with, Eckhart's gonna take some time so there's no point in wasting your energy.'

Everyone looked relieved at this. They had been exhausted by the whole Gabriel thing, especially Shalimar. He was finally out of her head so she wanted to take the time to catch up on being alone with herself, getting back in control of her own head. She could finally relax. She had a tonne of books she wanted to get through plus she hadn't had the opportunity to go walking in a long time. Shalimar's feral mutation meant that she didn't feel comfortable being away from nature for too long.

As soon as they had all dispersed Shalimar went straight to her room. She changed into a pair of worn jeans and tied a jacket around her waist. She dug around in her closet for her hiking boots but couldn't locate them. She was sure they had to be there somewhere.


	2. Letter from the author

Hi, I always forget to put these things in with the chapters so thought I'd stick it in now before my second chapter.

I don't own any of the characters in this story…oh well…we can't have everything!

Please review, useful reviews if you don't mind. I won't take your criticsm well and I won't change my style of writing for anyone but what the hell…lets me know you care!

Thank you for reading.

Have a nice day.


	3. Killing Time

_I am so glad we get to take a break _thought Brennan. Fighting Gabriel had been Mutant X's biggest challenge to date. They had all really struggled with it but at last it was over. Gabriel was gone and they had always handled Eckhart's employees without too much trouble.

Brennan picked up the worn book lying on his bedside table. It was bound in dark red leather and the pages inside were yellow they had been turned so many times.

Brennan had loved reading since like forever. When he was a kid and hadn't been able to handle his powers he had always turned to literature. It helped him escape from the crap that was his life. And now that he was happy and working hard he read books to relax. 

_And today that is exactly what I intend to do._

Jesse was at a loss. Everybody had something to do – Shalimar and Brennan would be chilling out all afternoon, Emma would probably end up helping Adam in the lab and all Jesse wanted to do was practice with his new powers. They weren't stable or atleast not as much as everybody else's. Shalimar had gotten a handle on hers from the word go and even Brennan and Emma who had been struggling for a while had sorted out their blasting deals. Jesse was the only one, the guy who was being left behind.

And all their powers were impressive. He got the team into buildings and then they got to kick ass.

Jesse decided to head out to one of the safe houses so he could train without any distractions, and without the looks of the others.

'So Adam, what are you gonna do while we're on a break?' questioned Emma.

'I thought I might work on some stuff,' replied Adam.

'Like…' 

Adam looked at Emma. He didn't quite know how to put it. If he said what he was going to say wrong then she might get scared, but if it came out too casually then she'd misunderstand and think he didn't care. Oh well, it was a chance he was going to have to take.

'You know what happened to Gabriel could happen to anyone of you? I know its scary but its still a possibility and I can't ignore it. So I'm going to start planning ahead. If and when it does start I figure I can be prepared.'

Emma looked at him. She didn't like that he felt so bad. She knew he blamed himself and put on a brave face to cover it up but come on, she was telempathic, his real feelings were gonna be seen whether he liked it or not.

'Adam…its not your fault.'

He looked at her and smiled. He knew it really was but the fact that these people, the ones he had hurt most believed in him and didn't want to kill him made him feel a little bit better.

'So,' Emma said after a pause 'what do you want me to do?'

'Emma, I said take a break,' he reminded her.

'Yeah, and what I wanna do with my break is my business. And I wanna help you.'

After a short pause she carried on 'Plus, I'm a new mutant and there's no way you can stop me, so there,' she finished, hands on hips and a determined look on her face.

Adam relented with a smile and they both got down to their work.

Shalimar laced up her boots. She had found them, at last on the dojo. She must have left them there when she had come back the last time.

She was so looking forward to getting out for a couple of hours. She intended to do some rock climbing for the rest of the day, following her old trails to all the best rock faces and then when night came she would give herself up entirely to her nocturnal instincts. They had become stronger since her powers had evolved but as yet she hadn't had the chance to use them to their full capabilities.

Tonight was gonna be one hell of a cool time.


	4. Developments

'Okay, I still have a sample of Gabriel's blood but I'm going to need one from all of you. The others I can do when they get back from wherever it is that they're going but if you don't mind I'll take a sample of yours now.'

'No problem,' said Emma as she rolled up the sleeve of her top. She didn't like needles but if it would help save her life one day she figured it was worth it.

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the other room.

Adam and Emma looked at each other, concern and curiosity etched across their faces.

They ran out of the lab quickly to see what was happening.

They got to the rec. room just as Brennan went flying into the far wall. Jesse was lying in the middle of the floor, struggling to breathe. Brennan was unconscious.

Then they saw Shalimar. She was standing, eyes flashing feral at the top of the stairs to the dojo. But something was wrong. Her eyes weren't just flashing feral, they were literally sparking. Blue electricity shimmered in them.

Adam ran over to Jesse. He wasn't doing so well with his breathing and seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. 

Seeing Adam Shalimar jumped from the dojo to the ground. Then she did something she had never been able to do before. She drew her hands together creating a ball of electricity. Just as she was about to fire it at Adam she was hit by a psionic blast from Emma. Shalimar dropped to the ground and Emma ran over to Adam to help him move Jesse to the lab.

Brennan tried to shake the blur from his eyes. He could barely remember what had happened to create the blur but as he blinked the world came back into focus. He turned his head painfully to look to his left. There was Jesse linked up to a breathing machine, and beyond him Shalimar.

Emma walked up to Brennan with a glass of water in one hand and two painkillers in the other. She sat down on the edge of the chair and handed the painkillers to him. He swallowed hoping they would take away atleast some of the achiness in his neck, head and back.

'How are you doing?'

Brennan looked at her, not even needing to answer the question.

'Do you remember what happened?' Emma asked.

'Not really.' His voice was croaky and weak. Emma looked at him with the sympathy obvious in her eyes.

'You should get some sleep,' she said gently.

'I'm not gonna argue with you.' Brennan let his head drop back onto the chair and within minutes he was asleep.

It had been five days since Shalimar had gone all crazy. Brennan had been up and about for four out of those five. Jesse had only woken up that morning. The silence in Sanctuary had been killing Adam. Normally he wouldn't have minded some peace but the reason for the quiet was worrying him. What had happened to Shalimar? Why had she suddenly gone all elemental? It didn't make any sense and he couldn't work it out.

He had been analyzing Shalimar since Emma had sent her under. But Adam didn't understand how, what he was seeing could be correct. According to his findings Shalimar's feral mutation had become stronger and she had developed the traits normally associated with elementals, psionics and moleculars. Adam groaned to himself.

'This can't be real.'


	5. New World

I know this is a really short chapter but it seemed a pretty good place to stop. I will update really soon, and I'm happy to hear that you all seemed to like the twist in the last chapter. 

Keep reviewing, thanks for all the ones so far.

Have a nice day.

Her eyes snapped open. Above was the sun, shining down on her, bathing her body in heat. She sat up, quickly scanning around her for any sign of life. It looked like she was standing in a big park, with trees dotted all over the place and the sound of water in the background. Beyond the trees were skyscrapers reaching into the clouds with their windows twinkling from the rays of sunlight. 

But there were no people. 

She stood up wanting to get a better look at this new world. Nobody walking their dog in the park or pushing their children on the swings. Her eyes searched in the distance as only a ferals eyes could, but still no one. There weren't any business men walking the streets between the buildings…nothing.

Then she sensed it, behind her, there was somebody there, waiting for her to turn around. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction but there was no way she couldn't see who it was. Slowly she turned away from the buildings and gasped at what she saw. 

'Hey Shalimar.'

Gathering herself together she replied.

'What the hell do you want Gabriel?'


	6. Breaking

Hi, I hope everybody had a happy christmas. I know the last chapter was really short, this ones not much better. I promise it will pick up, I seem to be going through a semi writers block stage in that I can write stuff but its not always very good at all. Anyway hope you all enjoy, please review, thanks for all the review so far.

'I just wanna talk to you,' Gabriel said in his most sultry of tones.

She hated that voice, it had annoyed her when he was alive but she had never thought that even after his death it would still be able to get to her. And she still had no clue as to where she was. She had been knocked out by Emma's head blast and then suddenly she was here. It made no sense.

'I know what you're thinking.'

'And what exactly would that be?' Shalimar replied with an edge to her voice.

'You're wondering where you are.' Gabriel had noticed her looking around at her new and unfamiliar surroundings. She had never been here before because unlike Emma, who was totally in touch with her equivalent of this place Shalimar had never meditated. If she had she would have recognized it straight away.

Shalimar felt the frustration rising inside of her. She turned around, getting prepared to walk away, run if necessary. She knew what Gabriel was capable of and she knew that he would have no hesitation in using his powers against her.

Suddenly she heard laughter behind her, not friendly but cruel. He was relishing her confusion and pain. She turned around to face him, frustration turning to anger, her eyes flashing feral. She glared, as if trying to burn a hole in his head but he kept on laughing.

Suddenly lightning struck the ground behind her. She whirled around as a boom of thunder came crashing into existence shaking the very ground on which she stood.

'Why are you so shocked?' Gabriel shouted over the noise. 'This is your head, everything is controlled by you, even the weather,' he said as if it was a simple fact that any five year old should have known.

A frown marred her pretty features as she thought about what he had just said. She realised that he was telling the truth. Everything fitted in perfectly, the frustration returned as she wondered why she hadn't seen it before. But it didn't answer the question: why was Gabriel here? Why was he still in her head? Why wouldn't he leave her alone? 

A solitary tear trickled down her cheek as she sank to the ground in a sitting position, shoulders drooping, head hung low. She felt so weak. She couldn't fight and she couldn't believe she had managed to let all of her friends down. She knew they would forgive her but it would never be the same. Her life, if she ever got out of her own head would never be the same. 

Gabriel watched as the rain came slowly down out of the sky. Shalimar was getting weaker, soon he would be able to break her, and he would have fun doing it.


	7. Worry

Emma opened the door to her room quietly. Adam had been working in the lab non-stop for 48 hours. She knew he wanted to help Shalimar but him killing himself with the exhaustion of it all was really not the answer. She had finally persuaded him to get some sleep and didn't want to risk waking him.

She closed the door behind hearing the creak of the hinges and making a mental note to get some oil. She walked down the hall to the kitchen. She couldn't sleep and thought maybe some tea would help, preferably some with as little caffeine as possible.

On her way back she stopped by the lab. Shalimar looked so peaceful, like she was just sleeping. Emma missed her. It wasn't that Brennan and Jesse weren't really good friends, they were the best but Sanctuary and its occupants were lifeless without her wild, impetuous, sarcastic, funny nature. They all missed her.

Adam felt useless, Jesse was worried beyond the telling of it and Brennan…he loved her. He hadn't told anyone but it was obvious to anybody with eyes that he cared about her way more than just a friend. And Emma couldn't do a thing to help. She could sense all their emotions and she could send as many calm thoughts into their minds as she liked but in the end it wasn't going to help any. They would still feel the same towards Shalimar and to tell the truth, Emma wasn't sure she wanted to change that, it would feel too much like manipulation and that was a trait of Gabriel's.  

The rain had been falling for the past hour. Shalimar had resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't fight Gabriel. She may have had his powers in the real world for a brief moment but now she was in her world. She didn't even know what was going on let alone how to change it.

'So,' said Gabriel 'if you're not gonna fight me what are you going to do?'

She didn't even bother to open her mouth. There was no point, she had decided to give in. What else could she do?

'You know if you just gave up I could take over and you'd be so much less worthless and pitiful than you are now.'

'I have given in.'

'Then why's it still raining?'

That was actually a good question. If she stopped caring wouldn't the rain stop falling. Presumably this whole world would disappear. 

But she did still care. She couldn't help it. She cared if she saw Adam, Jesse, Emma, Brennan (especially Brennan) ever again. Shalimar looked around her. This was all in her head so if she stopped giving a damn it would all go away. She noticed that already, since she had woken up some of the previously impressive skyline had vanished.

'So are you giving in yet Shal? Cos I could do with a new body to kill your friends with.'

As quickly as the thunder and lightning had gone they came back again. 

Gabriel flicked his eyes over the landscape. He was worried. She may not have realised it but in here she was all powerful. The minute she got that, he was as dead as his original body. 

Shalimar stood up. Now she was pissed. Gabriel could get into her head and he could insult her but when it came to her friends there was no way she was gonna take it!

Adam looked up. He had been monitoring Shalimar's brain since she had gone under. There had been some brain activity a while ago but since then…nothing. But now suddenly something was going on. Adam wasn't sure what but atleast he knew she wasn't completely brain dead. Whatever happened he had to keep her mind alive so that when she wanted to wake up she could. He couldn't lose her. Gabriel had been a sociopath who was trying to kill them and Adam had felt bad enough when he had died. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like if Shal went the same way.


	8. Genius at work

The wind whipped through Brennan's hair as he sped across the landscape. He knew he should be wearing a helmet on the motorbike but he had been trapped for long enough.

He had had to get out of Sanctuary. The atmosphere was claustrophobic and he could not stand the beep…beep of the machine attached to Shalimar's head. Each beep signaled the fact that she was running out of time. If she didn't wake up soon she would be gone completely. Brennan was no science geek but he had seen enough episodes of ER to know what happened when people were in comas. 

And the worst part was he had so much to tell her. And now he would probably never get that chance.

At Adams call Jesse and Emma came running into the lab. They were scared. What if Shalimar was dying? What if there was no cure for whatever was wrong with her? What would Mutant X do without her?

When they saw Adams face they immediately assumed the worst. His eyes were wide and he looked panicky, his breathing short. 

'Its Gabriel.'

They both stood in the door to the lab with frowns on their faces. What the hell did he mean? Emma spoke first.

'Adam, I know you're looking for answers but Gabriel is dead, okay, you and Jesse and Brennan saw him die,' she said in her gentlest manner.

'Yes, Gabriel's body died but he had already instated his mind into Shalimar's.'

Again with the puzzled expressions but this time Adam carried on talking.

'When Gabriel kidnapped Shalimar and hypnotised her he got into her head. You remember how he kept on appearing to her even after you blasted her, Emma? Well, the hold he had on her must have been stronger than anyone previously suspected. When he realized what was happening to him he stepped up the appearances and must have strengthened the bond that's how she got his powers, they transcended his death and that's why she's not waking up. He's holding her in her own mind.'

When Adam had finished explaining the confused faces seemed a little more enlightened and there was only one question left to ask:

'So how do we get her back?' asked Jesse. 

But this was the dangerous part. He knew they would be willing to do anything but he didn't want to lose more than Shalimar.

'I have a plan but I want Brennan here when I tell you all.'

They nodded in understanding as Adam contacted Brennan on his com ring.

Jesse looked at Emma. She was tired and he knew that Brennan would have gotten plenty far away from Sanctuary. He took her lightly by the arm and led her out of the room. They both sat down on the couch in the rec. room. She leant against him, weak with all the emotions she had been having to deal with over the past week and in five minutes flat they were both asleep.


	9. Plans

Nice big chapter today cos I haven't put one up in a while. Hope everybody had a happy new year. That was kind of the reason for not putting a new chapter up for a while. My 'happy new year' was extended way longer than it should have been. Plus I just got the first two DVD box sets of Mutant X Series 1 so have been catching up on the ones I missed. Very cool interviews on both as well. 

Anyway, glad to hear you're all liking the story so far, sorry if its moving a little slowly, I'm afraid its just one of those stories. I am working on a new one though, which will be uploaded soon.

Nothing has changed: I still do not own Mutant X or any of its characters. When I marry a 90-year-old billionaire I will be buying it so that's something to look forward to.

Please continue to review, and have a nice day.

'You can't run away from me.'

'I'm…not…running!' Shalimar shouted over her shoulder. She was fed up of listening to Gabriel insult her and the rest of Mutant X.

Plus, she figured she was going to be here for a while so she may as well go check it all out. More of the buildings were gradually fading away into nothingness and eventually when Gabriel took over there would be nothing left. She hated that he was going to win but she no longer had the strength to fight him. She only had enough energy to walk away. Her eyes glazed over as she carried on towards the city. 

Brennan ran into sanctuary. He had talked to Adam on his com ring 45 minutes ago and had broken every law to do with driving to get back that quickly.

Adam had refused to tell Brennan what was going on, all he knew was that it had something to do with Shalimar. If she was dying Brennan wanted to be there in her last few moments and if Adam had found a cure the sooner Brennan got there the sooner whatever Adam had to do could be done.

He skidded round the door of the lab. Adam was sitting, watching Shalimar. As Brennan stopped just short of the bio bed Adam looked up.

'What's going on?' Brennan demanded.

Adam explained the situation for the second time that day.

When he had finished he left Brennan to go and fetch Emma and Jesse.

Two minutes later they were all standing around Shalimar waiting to hear Adam's plan.

He was extremely dubious about telling them. It would be dangerous and he didn't want to force them into risking their lives, He wasn't even sure that his plan would work. But it was the only thing he could come up with.

'Gabriel is just in her mind, he's found some way of transferring his into hers. The major part of the plan involves you,' he said looking at Emma. 'You have to probe her mind, tell her that he's not real.'

'That's it…that's you're master plan!' Brennan shouted. He was getting frustrated. While Adam was coming up with plans Shalimar was lying there, helpless. She didn't have time for experiments.

Brennan looked at Adams face. His calmness in the face of everything that was going on was infuriating. The glass door of the lab cracked as Brennan stormed out.

The remaining three looked at the door as it swung back violently, shocked at Brennan's sudden outburst.

Adam started talking again, clearly shaken but determined to carry on.

'You have to let Shalimar know that Gabriel can do nothing to her, she's the only person who can fight Gabriel and in order to fight him, she has to stop being scared of him. Emma, it will be dangerous. I'm not sure what's going on in there,' he said looking at Shalimar's motionless body. She looked so peaceful; he hoped she was ok.

She had finally reached the buildings. They were smaller than they had appeared in the distance due to her increasing weariness.

They sparkled as the sun hit the windows. Even that was getting smaller. The heat and light being emitted from it were less intensive than they had been. Shalimar felt a shiver run down her spine though whether it was from the chill or the fact that Gabriel was still following her around like a stalker she couldn't be sure.

Suddenly the doors of the skyscraper in front of her opened to reveal Emma. 

Emma looked at Shalimar. She could tell even without using her powers that she was weak. Emma looked over Shal's shoulder and saw Gabriel. He looked smug, like he knew he was winning. Except that was not going to carry on as long as Shalimar had friends.

Emma walked over to Shal quickly, not wanting to waste anytime; she didn't know how long she could stay.

'Look Shal, you have to listen,' began Emma. She didn't know what she was going to say - Oh hey Shal, you know you thought he was all powerful…well guess what! - It wasn't exactly easy knowing how close to giving in Shalimar was. And if she was too weak to fight Gabriel then what good would it do Emma being there. 

Shalimar looked at her. First Gabriel was in her head and now Emma. It was all so confusing and all Shalimar wanted to do was get some rest. Tears started streaming down her face as she lowered herself to the ground. She sat there; she didn't care what Gabriel thought anymore. 

The rain began but it was weaker than before. Gabriel smiled. She was breaking. He would gain control of her body and then he would exact his revenge on Adam and that pointless little group of his.

Emma crouched down in front of Shalimar. This was way more worrying than anyone had previously believed, even Adam. She had to tell him so he could figure something out but she really didn't want to leave Shalimar. Without Emma's support Gabriel could do anything to her.

'Shal, listen to me. You have to be strong. I know its hard but you cannot give in to him. You're a fighter…so fight!'

'Nice little pep talk there Emma but its not gonna do any good.'

Emma stood up. She stared at him. He looked exactly as he had when he was alive. That same smirk, those cruel eyes and that really annoying hair which flopped over his face. Even down to the leather jacket, Gabriel hadn't changed.

'Emma,' he said tauntingly, 'you're searching for something in here,' he said tapping the side of his head with his index finger.

Busted. She had been looking, she didn't know exactly what for, just some clue as to why Gabriel was doing this to Shal. She got that he had a link with her, she really did but why was he torturing her like this?

'Why?' Emma asked trying to put some kind of force behind the word. She remembered how scared of Gabriel she had been when he was alive, but like she had just told Shalimar, she had to fight.

'Nothing to lose. I lost my body thanks to Adam, I don't intend to lose my only other shot at getting revenge.'

Emma looked back at Shalimar. She was sitting on the floor, staring into space, the occasional tear rolling down her face, no life in her eyes. The rain was calming down. In all Emma's experience weather in peoples heads reflected how they felt. Emma had been in many minds; Shalimar's had always been so beautiful, such a mix of urban and rural. Emma could have wandered for days at a time in there. But now there was no life left. Soon it would be completely barren. 

Emma was not going to let that happen.

She crouched again in front of Shalimar.

'Shal, I'm gonna go get Adam, he's gonna be here soon and then he's gonna help you.'

Emma wasn't sure if Shalimar had heard her, there was no reaction, her eyes just kept staring. Atleast there were still tears. Which meant Emma had time.

She turned and ran through the doors exiting Shalimar's mind.


	10. Appearances

Brennan dug around in the fridge for anything to eat, anything to take his mind off the motionless figure in the next room. Finding nothing he slammed the door shut nearly smashing it through the wall behind. 

He wanted to know what was going on, he knew Emma would be in Shals mind by now but he couldn't will his legs into life, he couldn't make himself walk into the lab to see Shal just lying there. 

He leant up against the wall knowing that if he didn't he would probably fall right over. The tears started to form but he blinked them away. This was no time for crying. 

He heard footsteps coming in his direction. Jesse ran in. He could see that Brennan was finding it tough even looking at Shalimar in her present state but right now, Brennan was going to have to put that behind him. Shalimar needed his help.

They were once again all gathered around Shalimar. Adam had explained what was going to happen and they had all agreed to go along with it without hesitation. Emma was going to transport them all into Shalimar's mind. It would be difficult for her, tiring, but at that point Emma didn't really care.

Adam had prepared them all for what it would be like inside Shals mind but each of them just wanted to get there, get the whole thing over.

Adam was worried. It would be hard on Emma, she had already gone in once that day and to take them all in would be exhausting work. Brennan was still completely unstable. Adam wasn't sure what he would do. Brennan had always had a short temper but seeing Gabriel again after all the pain he had caused might just push Brennan over the edge. Jesse was the only person in the group who seemed even remotely calm. Out of the three new mutants Jesse had known Shalimar the longest. He had seen her in every mood, every situation imaginable. He knew how strong she was, he knew that if there were some way through all this she would find it. But Adam could tell he was still worried. He loved her like a sister; it had to be hard seeing her lying there. Adam loved her like a daughter; he knew just how hard it was.

'Shal, would you please hurry up, I'm getting seriously bored waiting for your body.'

Gabriel was pissed off. He had underestimated how tough it would be to break Shalimar. And plus, all the stupid rain was making him wet. And it just seemed to keep on coming. When was she going to throw in the towel? 

He wandered around, wondering when Adam and the rest of Mutant X would turn up. A frown came to his face. Presumably Adam had worked out that Gabriel had no actual power. He was a friggin genius for crying out loud. So Gabriel knew he had a limited amount of time. He needed to break her now, or lose his chance for good.

'Come on Shalimar, you and I both know they're not coming back, they don't care enough. So why are you holding on to this tiny amount of hope,' Gabriel said in his most persuasive tone. 

She didn't move. Surely this was a good sign for him. The less she moved, the less she gave a damn about anything. He would win; he could feel it inside.

Gabriel spun round as Mutant X came walking through the door of the skyscraper. Brennan broke into a run when he saw Shalimar, not even registering that Gabriel was there. Brennan knelt down in front of her. Looking into Shalimar's eyes he could see the complete lack of emotion. There was no life there where there had always been such an abundance. He wanted her to say something, anything but knew that in her present state where blinking seemed to be a trial, that was too much to ask for. 

Adam joined Brennan in front of Shalimar. He had already been told what she looked like by Emma, so wasn't quite as shocked as Brennan but still, it didn't look good. He called Emma over, seeing as how she was the expert at this kind of thing she would probably know what was going on better than him.

Emma had been trying to hold Jesse back from attacking Gabriel. Shalimar was the only one who could get Gabriel out of her head; it would do no good having Jesse beat the crap out of him. But she knew that if Brennan took his eyes off Shalimar for a second there was nothing Emma could do. She steered Jesse over to Shalimar knowing that Adam needed her help before he even called her name, and that leaving Jesse alone was not such a good idea.

Gabriel was trying to keep a good face on it, attempting to look like he had all the confidence in the world. But he didn't, he was worried. He may have had a huge smirk on his face but he knew that once Adam revived Shalimar and told her what was really going on he was for it. He couldn't even leave, where would he go? He had no other body to go to, so it looked like he was waiting for the sentence to be passed.


	11. Road Trip

This is the last big chapter for a while. I had already written the story and was just splitting it up into chapters which was why there was pretty much one every day. Now I have run out of story to split up into chapters so could take a little while longer. Plus I'm going back to school tomorrow so won't be able to do some every day. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please review. Thank you to all my faithful reviewers: Charming Kitty Cat, Evilbon32, Jouliana, petitecat, wizard13. I know I've missed some people out but hey, this is not an Oscar acceptance speech. To anybody else who has read this story, please review. And if anybody knows when Mutant X is coming back on to British TV please let me know. Have a nice day.

Shalimar saw all of them come through the doors. She wanted to get up, go and tell them that she was okay. They all looked so worried. But what if it was one of Gabriel's tricks? What if they weren't real and he ended up beating her that way? What if they were real and he got really pissed off and decided to blast them all to kingdom come? She couldn't risk it. Plus she didn't know if her legs even had the strength to support her body. She'd probably just fall over. She would have laughed at the thought but laughing was tiring. 

Brennan knelt in front of her, then Adam and then they cleared out of the way to make room for Emma. It all passed as if it was a dream. Everything was really slow and she couldn't hear anything they were saying to her clearly. But she could see the worry in their eyes; it hurt that she couldn't do anything to ease that. 

Emma was getting scared now. Shalimar was crying less and less. She had only seen one tear in the last half a minute. The buildings were all but gone and the rain had nearly stopped, heck the clouds were disappearing and with nothing above them this was a bad sign.

Gabriel had been trying to decide what his best course of action was. Should he fade into the background or try and push his plan into action a little faster, try and counteract the presence of Shalimar's friends. He had to try anything to make this work and despite the loss of his powers he wasn't scared of Mutant X, just Shalimar. The smirk wavered.

Brennan wasn't sure what Emma was looking for. He knew she was pretty much an expert in this field but that didn't help him at that exact point. Shalimar still looked so lifeless. There wasn't even fear in her eyes…nothing. That was what scared him the most. What if Shalimar did get back but was a complete vegetable? What if they managed to get her out of this place and then when she was back in the real world she was still completely unresponsive. Or what if she changed? What if this whole not caring thing, which was going on in here carried on outside and she turned into the female version of Gabriel? Not quite the same amount of power since she would lose all of his new mutant abilities if she got out but what if she turned into some kind of sociopath who wanted to destroy the world that could cause her so much pain. And then Mutant X would have to fight her. He couldn't handle that.

Adam could sense Gabriel's presence. He knew he was laughing at them, trying to revive Shalimar. But that had always been his last mistake. When he had killed his parents he believed himself to be all-powerful, he believed he couldn't be taken down by anyone. And then Genomex, more specifically Adam had placed a sub-dermal governor in the back of his neck and stuck him in a pod. Every time Gabriel had gone up against Mutant X his pride and arrogance had been his downfall. Adam hoped this time would be no different.

Yet again Jesse was feeling useless. He always did when they went to fight the Strand or the GSA or Gabriel when he was alive. Brennan and Shalimar got all the credit for kicking ass; even Emma's new power helped out more than his. He knew they didn't mean to make him feel this way, definitely now. Shalimar needed all the help she could get and he was happy that Emma could do that. But it didn't stop him from feeling useless. He wanted to pummel Gabriel into the ground. Knowing it wouldn't help Shalimar didn't matter; it would make him feel better.

'Jesse,' yelled Emma. 

He had Gabriel rammed against the brickwork of one of the few remaining skyscrapers. She knew Jesse felt like crap about the whole thing with Gabriel. He had haunted Shalimar for weeks and Jesse had felt inadequate to help with that. What he didn't seem to realise was that Shalimar was like his sister. She valued him so much, she loved him in a way she could never love anyone else, even Brennan…especially Brennan thought Emma with a slight smile coming to her lips. 

Adam and Brennan ran over to Jesse trying to pull him off Gabriel. They knew exactly how he felt but this was not going to help Shalimar in anyway. She was the only one who could get rid of Gabriel; she had to be the one to kick his ass.

Emma was so busy watching the events unfold in front of her (she could have stopped it but there was this whole big chunk of her that wanted Jesse to ram Gabriel's head through the wall) that nobody noticed Shalimar standing up. The rain hadn't become any stronger but she was standing. 

By this time Brennan had managed to pull Jesse off Gabriel. It had been a good plan; he was kinda disappointed that he hadn't thought of it himself. But Adam and Emma were right, always the voices of reason, it wouldn't do any good. He looked quickly back over his shoulder just to check on Shal, but she wasn't there, atleast not where she had been before. Shalimar was walking down what had presumably been a street. He didn't know where she was going but he knew she couldn't leave. He let go of Jesse and ran after her.


	12. Away from the crowd

I finally got round to writing some more…yay for me! Admittedly I did write this while I was supposed to be doing homework but it was really boring homework and I can't control when muse decides to take my imagination for a ride. So totally not my fault! I hope you all like it; it might seem a bit confused so feel free to comment and criticize me all you like. 

Anyway I hope you enjoy.

Have a nice day.

She didn't know why she had left. She had just had this sudden urge to get up and get away from everything going on around her. Previously everything had been in slow motion, blurred around the edges, she could only hear the murmur of peoples voices. It was like somebody had put a bag over her head and nothing was clear. 

But suddenly the clarity had come back. Everybody was moving in real time and she could hear everything. There wasn't a lot in this place to hear other than her teammates and Gabriel, there wasn't a lot of life but the amount of noise made by a lack of existence was deafening. Suddenly everything had come into focus. Her feral senses had been switched back on and she could smell, hear, see, sense… everything. It had all been so abrupt and so in her face that she couldn't handle it. 

Shalimar heard footsteps behind her. She knew without even having to turn around that it was Brennan. She could hear his footsteps, urgent, hasty and she could feel the vibrations they made through the ground beneath her. She wanted to turn around and fall into his arms and stay there until Gabriel and all the problems he brought with him went away. But even more than that she wanted to go to sleep. She needed to rest. She had no more energy inside her body and even the walk from the group to this side street had left her exhausted. She just wanted it to end. 

And it looked like, pretty soon it would. The rain had calmed down to the point of stopping. Shalimar was no expert but she knew from what she had been told that weather reflected people's moods. If the rain was gradually coming to an end it had to mean Gabriel would take over soon and she would get to rest, to sit down and she would never have to worry about regaining her lost strength. It was an appropriate ending. Gabriel was going to win, Shalimar was going to lose. It made sense. 

Brennan watched as Shalimar trudged down the side alley she had turned off the main street into. Shalimar had never trudged in her life, it wasn't in her nature as a feral nor was it in her personality to trudge. Brennan's heart cried out for her. He wanted to help but there was only so much he and the rest of Mutant X could do for Shal. Fighting Gabriel, that was where she had to take over, that was where she had to try. As Adam had already pointed out several times none of them could fight Gabriel and get him out of Shalimar's head but her. 

Brennan looked into the sky. The clouds were parting and fading away but above them where there would normally be sky was nothing. It was just black. For the first time since entering Shalimar's world Brennan realized how dark it had become. The sun was a tiny ball of flame now. Brennan pulled his leather jacket around him tighter trying to keep out the oncoming cold and stop himself from getting too wet. 

Suddenly Shalimar stopped walking. She stood there in silence; shoulders drooped, breathing heavily as if she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She turned around and Brennan could see the exhausted look on her face. She couldn't go on much longer, in fact she didn't look like she could stand for one more minute. He ran forward and managed to catch her under her arms just as her knees buckled. He lowered her to the ground and knelt beside her, unsure as to what he should do. Should he go get Adam? He rejected the possibility as soon as it entered his head. He couldn't just leave Shalimar like this. He wouldn't.

She looked up into Brennan's worried face. She could feel the cold damp of the road soak through her thin top. She shivered and wondered where her jacket had gone. She knew she had had it tied around her waist when she'd got here but she must have dropped it when she was walking.

Brennan saw her shudder and quickly, completely disregarding his own welfare shrugged off his jacket. He gently picked her off the ground so she was in a sitting position and placed the jacket over her shoulders. He pulled her into his arms and they sat there for what seemed like hours just holding onto each other. Shalimar didn't have the strength to hold onto Brennan, she didn't have the strength to cry but she was more peaceful in his arms and seemed to be happier than she had been in a while.

Neither wanted to pull apart but eventually Brennan took Shalimar by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

'Shal, I don't know about you, but I would really love to get out of here some time soon. You think there's some way you could help me with that?'

Shalimar's eyes looked down. She didn't know what she had left, if anything. She wanted to help Mutant X like they had helped her plenty of times. They had been her family. Adam had been like a father to her, offering advice without judgement, help without limitations. She appreciated it more than he would ever know. 

And Jesse had always been her brother, the rock in her world, the stable guy, who for the most part was always so strong for her. He may not have had a whole lot of life experience but he definitely knew how to make her feel better after one of those days.

And Emma. What hadn't Emma done? She had been a best friend to Shalimar the minute she had agreed to be a part of Mutant X. Shal knew that despite Emma's fragile façade she was the strongest member. If only Shalimar had that kind of strength she would have been able to get out of this a long time ago. Emma wouldn't even have let Gabriel into her mind in the first place. 

Brennan wasn't like family. She had said that so many times, that Brennan was like her brother. But truth was, he really wasn't. They had had moments. Admittedly not a lot had come of them but you couldn't deny it. There was something between them, some kind of pull. They hadn't talked about it. They had just ignored it. Totally against type for both of them. Ordinarily Shalimar would have confronted whoever it was but Brennan was different. There was always the possibility that whatever was going on between them would screw up their relationship; that, in turn would screw up Mutant X. It was too much to risk.

Shalimar took a deep breath as she raised her head to look into Brennan's gorgeous brown eyes. She had to get over this for him. She had to deal with her fears for Mutant X.

'Okay,' she said quietly.

A look of relief passed over his face. Brennan knew it wasn't over. It wasn't over until Adam had checked out Shalimar back in Sanctuary but this was a start. 

'Okay.'

He helped her to stand and when they were both standing, her a little unsteadily they looked at each other. He gave her a reassuring smile and they started walking back to where they had come from. 

The sky was continuing to darken and the clouds were continuing to fade. As they got closer they could hear the murmur of voices. 

Shalimar drew to a halt. Just because Brennan was there with her didn't mean she could beat Gabriel. He had too strong a hold on her mind. He wouldn't let go.

Brennan noticed Shalimar's reluctance to go on. He got that she was scared but surely it couldn't be this hard to face up to Gabriel knowing that there was no way he could fight back. But then he remembered…he had forgotten to tell Shalimar. Emma had told her when she was first in Shal's head but it probably hadn't sunk in.

'I don't know if this will make it easier, but Gabriel has no powers.'

Shalimar looked up at Brennan slowly. It was still an effort. But this was new and shiny information. It also didn't make anything vaguely resembling sense. 

'Seriously,' Brennan carried on. 'Its your head. You wanna get rid of Gabriel and you can do it. He doesn't have control in here. He never did.' Brennan was hoping that if he could get Shalimar angry enough she'd snap. She'd go and get Gabriel and then she'd be mad enough to keep this little world going. He was sure that it was beautiful. It was Shalimar's…how could it not be?

Shalimar realized what Brennan was saying. Gabriel had kept her hostage in her own head by lying to her? She should have seen it sooner. It was such an obviously Gabriel thing to do. Why was she so blonde? He had been laughing at her behind her back the whole time. That was what annoyed her more than anything. Gabriel had run riot through her world, her mind, her life and he had had a good time doing it. How could someone live like that? Destroying other people's feelings for the fun of it. 

And she wasn't even pissed off…well, maybe she was a little pissed off but at the same time she pitied him. He felt so hard done by, so mistreated that this was his biggest thrill in life? He gained happiness through other peoples misery. Someone like that deserved pity. 

Brennan watched Shalimar for some kind of reaction. Her face was a blank. He couldn't tell if the new information had done its job or not and that worried him. Ordinarily Shal would have been off like a shot, ready to kick some serious ass. But she hadn't moved since he had told her. 

Shalimar could feel Brennan's eyes searching her face for…something. He didn't seem satisfied by what he saw and she was getting serious anxiety vibes radiating from him. She was still trying to figure out what to do. She didn't want to go and kick the crap out of Gabriel because that would involve him getting the last laugh at seeing her so furious. But she had to get him out of here. 


	13. Decisions

Adam had managed to haul Jesse off of Gabriel. It had been tough but the fact that Shalimar was no longer where she had been helped shock him into a more passive state of mind. Emma was talking to Jesse now, trying to get him to calm down some more. He still looked murderous and she was scared that next time he would just end up hurting himself. 

Adam had debated going after Shalimar and Brennan himself but he figured he needed to be here to keep an eye on Gabriel. He was leaning against the wall that Jesse had tried to push him through minutes before catching his breath. As Gabriel noticed Adam watching him he straightened himself up and threw Adam an infuriating grin. Adam wanted to punch Gabriel himself. But he had to keep watch for Shalimar. If she came back he wanted to be one of the first people she saw. 

Adam looked around him. He hadn't noticed but the immediate vicinity was disappearing fast. Adam knew that if Shalimar remained in the same mind-set she had been in when Mutant X had arrived this world wouldn't be around for much longer. Gradually it would continue to disintegrate and as the areas people were in disappeared they would either get ejected from her mind into the real world or would fall into some kind of vortex. Atleast, that was the theory. Adam had never been in this situation before and not being a psionic he didn't know what the normal way of things was. Emma had never been in this kind of situation either so right now she couldn't help him out a whole lot. They would just have to wait and see.

That was the part that killed Emma. The waiting. The not knowing. She could analyse the weather and see if there was any improvement through that medium but there was no way she would be able to help if they all got sucked into some kind of black hole. And she hated the way Gabriel was screwing with all of them. Atleast when he was alive, Mutant X could have put up some kind of offence, they could have fought him. But seeing Shalimar at the point where she was considering giving it all up had drained them. They couldn't fight; they could just sit and watch on as Shalimar's life fell down around them. She wandered around trying to keep busy so she didn't over think the whole thing to the point where she got hysterical. 

She could sense how much this whole thing was killing Jesse. He knew Shalimar the best; he had been with her the longest and had been through everything with her. Emma would have been surprised if it wasn't tearing him up inside to see her hurting like she was. 

!!!!! 


	14. Changes

Sorry, the last chapter was so short and crappy. The site wouldn't let me (for some reason that I'm sure would be clear to Bill Gates but since I'm blonde…not me) upload all of what was intended to be my next chapter. Anyway, this was supposed to be part of the last chapter but better late than never.

Thanks again for all the reviews. I can't tell you enough how much I love them. They make me feel like its all worthwhile – said as a solitary tear trickles down her cheek.

I hope you like this chapter…I'm sorry if the story is quite slow…I can't change that…just the way it turns out.

Have a nice day.

Brennan continued to look on as Shalimar stood in the middle of the alley. In complete contrast to a few minutes before she was standing, steady as a rock. But still there was no change in her face. Normally her eyes would have started flashing feral a long time ago or the corners of her mouth would have turned up into a sly grin as she thought of all the fun things she would do to get revenge.

But this time was different, Brennan knew that. And it hurt that he couldn't help her. Atleast the world had stopped disappearing. Or he thought it had. He couldn't be too sure. But if it had that meant Shal had gained some kind of control over this place. Which had to be a good thing.

                        ***

Emma sensed a change. She couldn't be certain but there wasn't so much sadness in the air. It had been overpowering before but it seemed to have calmed down now. 

She walked over to where Jesse sat and slid down the wall into a sitting position next to him. She was getting vibes coming off of Jesse, so powerful they seemed to come from every single pore in his body. And they weren't happy vibes either. She knew he couldn't handle it for much longer, just watching as Gabriel stood there, laughing at all of them, especially Shalimar. Jesse was fiercely protective of her when he needed to be, and he depended on her for advice that only she could give. He was desperate for her to come back and tell him that everything would be okay, that she was going to be fine.

Jesse turned his head to look at Emma as she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. It was a small gesture but he knew that she cared and that was something that would keep him from attacking Gabriel…for now.

Adam had been leaning against one of the skyscrapers watching his children support each other. He had always had Shalimar to do that for him. She had been with him from the beginning and he hadn't realized till she'd gone how much he relied on her. She had always been so sure of herself, so confident in a way that could easily have become cocky but which rarely did. Shalimar knew what she could do and she did it with an attitude that was irresistible even to the villains. When Adam had first found her he had realized this, not because he was a genius but because her body language, the way she talked and her eyes had told him. 

His head quickly swung round to look to his right, the direction Shalimar had gone off in. He held his breath as he looked at her. She was walking towards the group and as she got closer Emma and Jesse stood up to await the verdict. But Adam already knew what she was gonna do…not exactly but then Shalimar had always been unpredictable.

Brennan walked behind her and as he walked forward he checked out Gabriel's face to see if there was any fear, any worry, anything displayed on it. He didn't get too much time to look, as Shalimar was pretty much 'girl on a mission'. She wasn't stalking up to her opponent as she would normally have done but she was walking with a purpose and even Emma couldn't tell what that purpose was. She looked around her trying to figure out Shalimar's emotions from the landscape but nothing had changed. If Shal was angry there would be lightning, thunder, something along those lines. If she had given in they wouldn't be there any more, and Emma thought she might just have picked up on either one of those if they had happened. But they hadn't and Emma didn't know quite what to make of the situation.

Jesse was just glad when he saw that Shalimar was back. He had been worried about her and where she had gotten to. He knew Brennan would look after her but that only eased Jesse's mind marginally. He needed to see her to make sure that she was okay. Or, atleast as okay as could be expected. He was curious as to what she would do next, not worried like the others. He had known her for a shorter amount of time than Adam but he'd been in the toughest of situations with her and had seen her at her best and her worst. This occasion was gradually climbing the charts.

Emma had let go of his hand when Shal and Brennan had come back but feeling like they both needed the support he reached over and took her hand into his again. She didn't look like she noticed but inside Emma felt a glow of warmth run through her body. 

Shalimar had got to where Gabriel stood. He looked around trying to detect something of her emotions. As he realized that nothing significant was going on in the sky a lazy, smug smile spread across his lips. He looked like the cat that got the cream. He hadn't counted on Shalimar being such a good actress. She fully intended to blow his mind…in the literal sense.


	15. Message

Hello everybody, this is not another chapter, I can't write that fast. I was just wondering if anyone knew what's going on with Sky One and Mutant X. I heard a rumour that they were discontinuing season 2 and so obviously got a little stressed cos I have to see it. So anyway I thought if maybe somebody could mail me and let me know what the hells going on. 

Thanks for all the reviews, as always greatly appreciated; my inbox is full of them.

I promise I will be writing some more soon, I've written the end I just have to try and link it to the rest of the story…its all so screwed up cos its all finished and yet its not.

Have a nice day.


	16. Message, too many of these, not enough c...

Hi, I typed some stuff up yesterday but my stupid computer didn't save it properly so I lost about two pages of typing. This is just to explain why there's been no chapters updated in a while. Sorry if I'm getting anybody's hopes up by continually posting these things and making you all think I've done new chapters. Sorry.

As always thanks for the reviews. I do appreciate them (how many times have I said that now?) I know, its getting clichéd but I really do. 

Thank you to PeTiTe CaT especially just cos you told me March 5th is when Mutant X is coming back on Sky One. So long to wait. I don't know if I can last that long.

Grrrr, the frustration.

I'm gonna go stop complaining about the loss of my work and start working again.


	17. The end?

I finally got round to writing this chapter. Took a while but better late than never (or atleast I hope so). Only one more chapter to go which is pretty much finished now, unless I decide to change the ending completely. This is where I kinda need your help. And you thought you could just sit back and relax. Do you want to have a happy ending or a sad one? I can't promise that I'll go with the majority but I wouldn't mind some reasons…I'll be won over by the best one and you'll get a cookie * she says as she eats the said cookie*

As always thank you so much to all my regular reviewers and any new ones. Hope you enjoyed the story so far and I hope you like the ending.

Have a nice day.

Jesse watched Shalimar. He had seen her pissed off before but never to the point where she was calm. This was a new level of annoyance and Jesse wasn't sure what she was going to do. She had always been unpredictable but after all the years working with Shalimar Jesse usually had some kind of clue as to when she was gonna snap. Now there was nothing, he couldn't read her at all…and it was freaking him out.

Emma was watching the weather like Gabriel. It was getting really hard since there was pretty much nothing to watch. The sky was just about to disappear completely, and the rain was practically non-existent. So Shal didn't care whether she beat the crap out of Gabriel or not, she was just doing it for something to do, killing time? Emma knew that that wouldn't help anybody. Unless Shalimar started giving a damn her beating the hell out of Gabriel was not gonna do any good. Emma stared at the back of Shalimar's head, willing her friend to feel emotion.

Adam was proud of Shalimar so far. He was no expert but surely this had to be a good thing. Shalimar was facing up to Gabriel; she had gained some kind of strength, strength enough to do something. But then to Adam that was not surprising. Shalimar had always been strong, stronger than him. When he had first met her she had been scared, freaked out by her abilities but she had picked herself up from that time on. With a little help she had become the one person in Sanctuary who would always disobey his orders but would always do so with so much force behind her convictions that there was no way he could have stopped her if he had wanted to. 

Brennan was also watching Shal. She was the centre of attention, something he knew she would have liked if it had been any normal day. He supposed that was why he had first started to like her in the way that he did. You couldn't ignore her with her long, blonde hair, gorgeous figure, the way the corners of her mouth turned up when she wanted to laugh and the way she moved. It was hard to not notice her. That was why he lost to her all the time when they were sparring. She was so sensual and yet so powerful and a lot of the time she caught him off guard, not just because she was feral but because he would just stand and watch her a lot of the time. For split seconds he would just look on as she flipped herself over her head and land, totally stable on the floor. She would normally take advantage of these moments but that just gave him another reason to feel the way he did. 

Shalimar stared into Gabriel's eyes. He had stopped looking around him and was now taking a long look at the woman standing in front of him. She was incredibly sexy, and strong and feisty with it (not at that exact moment in time but she had been). That was what had attracted him to her in the first place. After she had gotten away and back to Mutant X he had continued to search in her mind at random intervals. There had always been so much hatred for him in here. It had been intoxicating, that was why he hadn't left her alone. She had been so repulsed by him that it had been so much more of a challenge, and he had loved every minute of it. She had always been so much fun to screw around with, and what with the whole dying thing he had needed a little fun. 

'So, Shalimar, you gonna kick my ass now?' Gabriel taunted. 

'Nope,' Shalimar replied, still refusing to break the look she had with Gabriel.

'So, if you're not gonna beat the crap out of me what are you going to do?' 

Shalimar continued to stare as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She raised her eyebrows and finally breaking the stare she turned her eyes up to the heavens. It was then that Gabriel heard a low rumble, steadily building its way up to thunderous levels. His head shot every which way as he tried to figure out where the lightning, which he knew was coming would strike. 

Suddenly the flash came. It shone off the windows of the remaining buildings and created black shadows that appeared and then, just as quickly disappeared. And then, it was all gone. Gabriel looked around him warily and hardly daring himself to, looked straight into Shalimar's eyes. The sly smile had gone, it was replaced by a look of pure contentedness. For the first time since she had entered her own mind she looked like the possibility of happiness was just around the corner. 

And then Gabriel was blasted with the light of the sun. He hadn't expected it and it blinded him temporarily. But when he could finally see again he looked around him. The skyscrapers once again reached into the clouds, there were actual clouds again! Beyond the edge of the city, as far as the eye could see was green grass and huge, rolling hills. There were animals, birds soaring overhead, cats wandering in and out of the buildings, not caring what was going on with the humans. Shalimar watched them and smiled. She knew exactly how they felt.

Emma had seen Shalimar's mind before so it was not all new to her, but that didn't make it any less beautiful. The other three members of Mutant X were shocked at the change, which had taken place in the space of just a few seconds. They hadn't realized how exquisite Shalimar's world was. They looked at each other and then to the doorway of one of the buildings that had just repaired itself. Out of it there came a stream of people, all different. They seemed to spread themselves out to fill the space, which had for so long been empty. 

Emma had known what was coming. She had taken the full tour of this place a couple of hundred times and had always seen it milling with people. She had known that they would come; it wasn't Shalimar's world without them. But this wasn't the end. Shal may have restored her mind to its original beauty but she still had to get rid of Gabriel, or he would fester and infect her psyche again. And Shalimar couldn't survive a second time. Emma looked through the crowds towards her friend to see what she would do next and to be ready to encourage if it was needed. The rest of Mutant X followed Emma's lead, eager to know what was going to happen.

'Hey Gabriel,' Shalimar said loudly, waving her hand in front of his face. 'You still there?'

He blinked a few times trying to pay attention to the woman standing in front of him. 

'You remember you asked me a question?' His face was a blank, like he couldn't have remembered his own name if he'd have tried.

'You asked if I wasn't gonna kick your ass, what was I going to do,' she prompted him. 'You want an answer?'

He didn't really. He knew it was over, everything he had worked for, all the time and effort he had put into his plans, wasted. But Shalimar didn't look like she was going to take no for an answer.

'Sure, why not?' he replied, no energy left to be smug, or arrogant…basically no energy to be himself.

'Okay then, and you'd better listen cos I worked real hard on this.' She looked up into his face with an amused expression.

'I'm gonna tell you to kiss mine!' 

Gabriel had the chance to smile before he disappeared into thin air. It was literally that simple. One minute Gabriel was there and the next…he wasn't. Shalimar stood for a minute staring at the place where he would have been. She could feel the presence of Brennan, Jesse, Emma and Adam behind her. She turned around and looked at each of them. They were tired but seemed happy, relieved for her.

'Well, that was somewhat of an anti-climax. Do I not even get a bang, or some fireworks?' she asked with an innocent expression on her face. 


	18. The end

I finally finished it…this is the last chapter…well, until I get round to writing a sequel anyway. I hope everybody likes it. I got a resounding 'happy ending' majority but I didn't want it to be all 'sunshine and fluffy bunnies.' It's a happy ending with an edge. Thank you to everybody that read it, thank you to all those who reviewed. I'm just so sad that its all coming to an end *tear* I'm sorry, I just seem to be getting a little emotional. I'd like to say thank you to my parents for all their support over the years and last but definitely not least, I'd like to say thank you to God…you the man! (I hope I didn't offend anybody with that, if I did, I promise to hit myself over the head with something very heavy)

Have a nice day.

Shalimar had been asleep for a week. She hadn't wanted to leave so soon but had agreed that the rest of Mutant X couldn't very well stay with her. There might have been some kind of emergency going on back in the real world. Besides she had wanted to enjoy it by herself for a while. Adam had kept all the machinery up and running just to make sure that nothing else went wrong but Emma had assured him that Shalimar was fine.

Despite knowing this Brennan had not left her side since getting out of her head. He hadn't slept properly in six nights, taking naps every so often, always awakening every time there was the slightest movement in the lab. He didn't care about the lack of sleep or food (unlike sleep he had completely forsaken food despite all of Adams warnings and threats.) Brennan just wanted to make sure that when Shalimar woke up she would see a familiar face so she wouldn't be scared.

Jesse and Emma had taken to joining Brennan for a couple of hours in his vigilant watch every day. They would talk about the most random of things and when Adam came in to check on Shal (and to make sure Brennan hadn't collapsed from lack of nourishment) they would involve him in the conversation. The laughter wasn't as joyful as it would have been if Shalimar was a part of the joke but it was laughter in a Sanctuary that had been silent for a long while. 

It was dark all through Sanctuary, just the lights of the equipment and the occasional quiet beep. Brennan was sat on the floor, leant against one of the pillars. He had fallen asleep, unable to keep his eyes open any longer, poetry book hanging loosely from his hand. His head had flopped forward onto his chest and his legs were stretched, straight out in front of him.

Shalimar stirred. She was having the greatest wander around her mind. Now she understood why Emma spent so much time meditating. It was so peaceful. She was standing in the exact same place she had been standing when she had encountered Gabriel. But the feelings of confusion and fear were gone. Things were so different now.

The sun was shining so brightly onto her face, forcing her to squint her eyes slightly but the ground was covered in glistening, fresh, crisp snow. This had always been something Shalimar had loved ever since she was a little kid. She had loved looking out on a world covered in ice and bathed in sunlight. 

The white flakes lay heavily on the outstretched branches of trees, weighing them down. Children built snowmen with their parents and some teenagers were racing down a nearby hill in toboggans. The skyscrapers had all been restored to their former glory and looked impressive in the distance. They reached into the cloudless sky. 

Shalimar laughed out loud as she saw a dog running away from a cat. That had always been on of her dreams: cats getting their own back.

She looked around her, eyes sparkling as she took in her last view of this place…well, for now. She would be coming back but right now she needed to go home, back to her sanctuary.

She lay down on the ground, savouring the cold on her back and the warmth on her front. She closed her eyes and slowly felt herself drifting back into the real world. 

Shal opened her eyes. Above her the overhead lighting of the lab had been turned off. She flicked her eyes to the left and then to the right. There was a dim glow coming from the lights set into the walls. It was glinting off the surfaces and through the colourful substances in test tubes. 

Shalimar sat up slowly; she had an aching back and neck from two weeks of being in the same position. She looked around her and then noticed Brennan slouched over on the floor. She slid out from underneath the thin blanket that had been placed over her and silently placed her feet on the ground. She crept over to where Brennan sat and picked up the book that had fallen onto the floor. Poetry. A smile slowly spread across her face. Things hadn't changed.

Jesse reached over to his bedside table and twisted the digital clock around so he could see the flashing neon digits. 02:00am. Jesse didn't know why he had woken up. Normally he slept all the way through the night, and a lot of the time quite a bit of the way through the morning.

It was still dark all the way through Sanctuary and he could only just make out the outlines of the furniture in his room. 

He pushed the covers off his boxer-clad body and put his feet onto the floor. His throat was dry and he needed a drink. 

He pulled a hoodie that had been resting on a chair over his tousled head. He yanked open his cupboard door and dragged (Jesse was most definitely not a morning person) a pair of grey sweatpants out. 

He stumbled his way down the hall to the main room of Sanctuary. He could see the kitchen light was on and wondered if Emma or Adam had gotten thirsty too. 

Jesse groped his way across Sanctuary, trying not to stub his toes on anything. He rounded his way into the kitchen and then came to a complete stop. 

In front of him was Shalimar, a large pepperoni pizza on the table in front of her. Or atleast, when she had first started eating it Jesse assumed it had been large. Now there were just a few slices left. She looked up and stared Jesse straight in the eye. He stared back, not sure whether to laugh or turn and run.

They stared at each other for a whole minute before bursting into laughter. The noise seemed to break some kind of spell and Jesse pulled up a chair and took the offered slice of pizza. They didn't talk, just sat there in comfortable silence eating pizza, like they always used to after a big fight with the GSA.

Shalimar's legs were still a little unstable seeing as she hadn't used them in two weeks but she had a desire to look around Sanctuary to see what else had or hadn't changed, so Jesse took her arm and helped her. She noticed everything now even though not a lot had altered and Jesse and her laughed their way through every room not even worried about waking the others. Neither of them noticed as the time sped on and before they knew it, the sun was creeping round the edges of the windows, bouncing off the water and causing hypnotic patterns to flicker across the walls. 

Despite the big sleep she had just had Shalimar tired easily. Jesse went to get showered and changed while Shalimar wandered back into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and reached for the tub of Haagen Daaz, Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream. She was really starting to feel the emptiness in her stomach. Adam had been keeping her nourished via a drip while she was out of it but a drip was no replacement for actual food. And the craving for chocolate was almost unbearable. Shal grabbed a spoon from one of the drawers and padded her way back to the lab.

Brennan was still asleep, a weeks lack of catching up with him. Shalimar nimbly jumped up onto the bed and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. She remembered how Brennan had done the same thing with his jacket. He had been cold and wet (a dangerous thing for an electrical elemental to be) but he had done that for her. Her calm brown eyes looked at him, wondering what he had been thinking when he saw her in such a mess. She hadn't looked at herself in a while but she figured she must look like absolute crap. And she hadn't showered in two weeks. The thought made her shiver and then giggle. Not showering in two weeks was totally gross and it wasn't even like she had a decent excuse. She laughed again, leaning back on the chair still holding the ice cream in her right hand and the spoon in her left.

Brennan's eyes flickered open at the sound of Shalimar's amusement. He looked around him, not aware that he had fallen asleep. As he got used to his surroundings again his eyes alighted on Shalimar's golden hair. Still slightly disorientated, it took him a while to register the fact that she was awake. He sat there staring at her. 

All the stress and frustrations of the past couple of weeks were slowly being released from Shalimar and she found that once she had started laughing like a complete lunatic she couldn't stop. A few years ago she would never have found herself in this kind of situation but now it was all so normal. That was the funny part. This was her life: being held hostage in her own mind, fighting people with extraordinary abilities, living in a building where sparring wasn't just about the martial arts. 

Brennan looked on. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he just sit there and let her laugh it all out or should he get up and book a bed in the nearest mental hospital? She looked so beautiful, head back, long blonde hair cascading over the back of the bed, eyes sparkling; he was tempted to watch her forever. 

But then his leg decided for him. It had fallen asleep and was now at the stage where it was all tingly. Trying not to fall over and give Shal one more reason to laugh, he stood up. 

She saw him. The laughter came to an abrupt halt. She looked at him. His normally neat hair was shooting out at the oddest angles, he had huge bags under his eyes and his shirt was just one big crease. She looked him up and down for a while and then, realizing that she was going to laugh again decided she had better offer him some ice cream. She pulled the lid off and digging the spoon into the semi-frozen chocolate held her arm out in front of her, offering it to him. 

At that he turned and walked out of the lab. Shalimar sat on the bed, staring at the closed lab door, sadness drifting over her. She didn't know what she had done that was so bad he couldn't even stay in the same room as her for five minutes. She felt the tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

Just as the tears were about to start rolling down her pale cheeks the door opened and Brennan walked back into the room. He held up his hands showing off the tub of Ben and Jerry's chunky monkey and his own spoon. 

'I haven't eaten in a week,' he began. 'I refuse to share food with anyone right now due to the whole starvation thing…plus you haven't brushed your teeth in a while and although I'm not completely averse to catching your cooties, that's just plain unhygienic,' he finished with a smile.

Shalimar blinked back the tears, relieved that he wasn't angry with her. She pulled her legs into her chest, leaving Brennan with plenty of room to sit down. He walked over to the bed and they sat there until the ice cream tubs were completely empty. Neither of them remembered afterwards what they had found to talk about. It didn't matter. The only important thing was that Shalimar was back and they were hanging out in Sanctuary, their home.

Despite the fact that neither of them had had a whole lot of sleep they couldn't have slept a wink so they walked into the rec room and stuck a DVD into the machine. Snuggling down into the huge cushions of the sofa Shalimar felt at peace. She was in the safest place she knew of. She had her friends; her family around her and Gabriel was gone. Although she hadn't realized after he died that he was still in her she felt like a huge soul crushing weight had been lifted. She could sit back and watch the film without any kind of pressure bearing down on her. She sighed with satisfaction as the title credits came up onto the screen. 

Brennan looked down at Shalimar's contented, peaceful face. He was so relieved that she was okay. But he still had so much to tell her. Now wasn't the time. She didn't need to think about anything complicated or make any tough decisions for a while.

As the sun rose higher in the sky shafts of golden sunlight shone through the windows onto the heads of Brennan and Shalimar. He offered her a tissue from the box on the table next to the couch. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose thoroughly. 

'What's the matter?' Brennan asked gently.

'I don't know,' Shalimar replied in a tearful voice. 'I just always end up crying when the geese and that little girl make it to the big lake.'

He looked down at her, eyebrows raised, lips quivering, eyes sparkling as she looked at him, a plaintive look on her face.

'Don't laugh,' she ordered, attempting to cover up her own giggles.

Holding his hands up he replied: 'Wasn't even thinking about it,' a mock serious look on his face.

'Good,' she answered as they both turned their attention back to the movie. And much as they both tried, the sound of laughter filled the room in under ten seconds.

Adam, Emma and Jesse, standing round the corner from where Shalimar and Brennan were sitting turned to each other and smiled.

She was back.

Shalimar was sitting on the top of the cliff staring out at the landscape. The sun was setting on the horizon and Shalimar, after spending the entire day relaxing inside with the team (she had refused to let Adam run any tests on the grounds that she had been screwed around enough for quite some time) was getting away from it all for a while. She needed time to process everything that had happened. 

Her eyes shone from the light of the sun and her body was bathed in its warm light. She should have been happy. She was back with Mutant X and Gabriel was out of her life. She should have been jumping for joy. But something was off. Nobody else seemed to have noticed, but Shalimar had barely stopped thinking about it. She figured Emma hadn't been reading her cos it would have been too stressful. But Shal was glad Emma hadn't been probing. She wanted to tell them all in her own time. 

The sun disappeared over the edge of the world as Shalimar flicked the sparks from finger to finger, like she had been born to do it.


End file.
